Workshop with a Master Shiatsu Practitioner

During any treatment while you are lying there enjoying the experience, we as practitioners are looking for the under or over functioning aspects in your body. The Japanese terms for this are KYO (under) and JITSU (over). Distortions in the life force are the reason for illness, disease or feelings of being unwell.

Eastern Therapies’ aim is to bring balance back into your body, Houng and Jeff do this with acupuncture and I (Ross) do this with massage.

In a massage there are techniques to help the practitioner. Each organ has its own feel compared to another. In a workshop I attended with Glenn Polley in October, the aim was to be able to distinguish the difference between each meridian. While on one level this is not as hard as you may think, on another level it makes me question the integrity of what I am feeling, is this an under or over functioning organ in the body.

To feel the Lung meridian as “doing a belly buster into a swimming pool” is very different from the feeling of the Kidney meridian as a “deep ocean that can go on for ever”. These are very different in the way they feel. To use this approach gives us a greater insight into how each person uses there body and the stress placed on them.

A greater understanding of your body and the health of each organ compared to another gives us at Eastern Therapies better results. Where I really notice it, is at what point along the meridian it changes. This is where Shiatsu techniques helps to change the flow of energy along the meridian to bring harmony to each client.

The workshop consisted of Hara (the abdomen) Diagnosis, the Hara is divided into areas that relate to different organs. Depending on what the practitioner feels, kyo or jitus determines what points and what meridians they will use in a massage or acupuncture. To do this I place both hands on the abdomen and in a gentle wave motion palpate the area. Working around the belly in a clock like motion with my fingers, gage the integrity of each area. Working with diagnostic areas, you look to change the consistence of the abdomen. This knowledge helps to determine where to massage to get the maximum benefit to you.

These tools give a better understanding of where the tension and stress is located in each body. A better understanding gives a better treatment and at Eastern Therapies we aim for the best results for you.

Next time you are lying there enjoying the experience you can rely on Houng, Jeff and me to be looking for the best approach in treating you, our valued clients.

Shiatsu Therapist

Ross

White wine reduces chance of IVF success in women

The Daily Telegraph

October 22, 2009 12:01am

WHITE wine can dramatically reduce the chances of a successful pregnancy for women undergoing IVF, scientists in the US have warned.

Sharing one bottle of wine a week could cut a couple’s chances of having a baby by 26 per cent. They also told men to avoid beer to maximise their chances of becoming a father.

A large-scale study of couples in their 30s found that even low levels of alcohol consumption can increase the risk of miscarriage or an embryo not implanting properly in the womb.

White wine had a bigger effect on women’s fertility than any other drink, while beer had the worst impact on the quality of men’s sperm.

The findings come days after the president of the Royal College of Physicians in the UK warned of the dangers to women’s health of “winding down” with a glass of wine.

In the study, researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston in the US asked 2500 couples before their first IVF cycle about the amount and type of alcohol they consumed.
After taking into account factors including age, weight and whether they smoke, they found that women who drank white wine more than once a week had a 24 per cent lower chance of a live birth.

There was a 23 per cent reduced chance of the embryo implanting properly.

The study also found that if both parents drank six units of alcohol a week, the chances of a live birth declined by 26 per cent. Six units is equal to two large glasses of wine, three pints of beer or six shots of spirit.

Dr Brooke Rossi, who presented the findings to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference, said: “In general, women are told they should stop drinking when trying to achieve pregnancy.”

Tony Rutherford, the chairman of the British Fertility Society, said the society’s guidelines and those from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence stated that women should not drink at all during their pregnancy.

However, US Government guidelines say one or two units a week should not do any harm.